Did Pelosi Just Side With Oberstar Over Obama on the Transpo Bill?

That’s the implication of a Roll Call story today that states: “Momentum Builds for Transportation Bill.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (Photo: moniquemonicat.wordpress.com)

Here’s
how the exchange in question played out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s
(D-CA) weekly briefing. Pelosi was asked for her position on a possible
second stimulus bill, and she replied:

I am committed to the first stimulus. I don’t think it has been given all
the time to work. … The
question is always open as to what the Administration may recommend to us,
but right now, I believe that we have much more to gain from seeing through
the first stimulus. 

I
am a proponent for bringing up a full transportation bill, which is a great
jobs bill.  At some point, we may have to do something on the extension
of unemployment benefits. But in terms of the investments that were
made in the first package, I want to play that out.

We

have to be very careful about the spending on this. … [R]ight now I
think that we have big issues with health care and how we fund that,
and if we do go someplace, I’d like to see us do the transportation
bill.

So is Pelosi backing her
transportation committee chairman, Jim Oberstar (D-MN), whose push to
pass a transportation bill this year has faced opposition from the Senate and the Obama administration

A
House Democratic leadership aide told Streetsblog Capitol Hill that no
decisions on a timeframe for the transportation bill have been made,
but discussions are ongoing and all parties agree that a short-term problem exists.